


Studio of broken dreams

by TheHoundWithin



Series: Crooked Empire [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Child Death, Evil Joey Drew, Good Parent Henry Stein, Hurt/Comfort, Joey Drew being a Jerk, Joey Drew is "Bendy" | Ink Bendy, Minor Character Death, Original Character(s), Parent Henry Stein, Scars, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 05:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30067143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHoundWithin/pseuds/TheHoundWithin
Summary: Henry wants to break the cycle and to do that he has to face the demon, but the demon never forgets the debts some may have, the price? Let the ink consume your soul
Series: Crooked Empire [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2212062
Kudos: 5





	Studio of broken dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for the attention to some of my stories, they mean a lot to me. So as a sorry for not updating the mafia au in so long, I made this quick one.
> 
> I will say that I do have a lot for chapter two and it will all be in my new writing style so stay tuned!

Henry stood still, his grip on the ax was unforgiving, the ink demon, ruler of the studio, sat on his throne, that disgusting smile made Henry want to punch it even more.

"You...Drew, they were your friends, my friends, you killed all of them" Henry finally let out in a shaky voice, his anger, and sadness mixing on the pit of his gut, "you ruined their lives, you ruined my life and yours too, and what for?" The ink demon took a deep breath and leaned forward, he got up.

Henry stared at the monster Joey had become, he was disgusted by him now, how could Henry fall for his tricks back then? "Stein, my dear, I don't have time for this, I have some stuff to get done, but our little deal needs to be sealed, I saved you from Norman, I saved you from Boris, and I saved you from yourself." He walked in circles around Henry, taking in every detail from the man, his ink-soaked shirt, his pants forever stained with black ink, his boots ruined, his hair covered in a beautiful mixture of grey and golden hair, his joke of a beard steadily growing as the years went by, he chuckled to himself. "I saved you from death, from the real world, this Henry, is an escapism".

The man swings his ax at the demon, hoping to hurt him, but the blade simply scratched his inky skin, Joey found that amusing, now it was Henry's time to soak in every inch of the ink demon, his tall stature, his spine turning into sharp spikes going down his back, disappearing before his pelvis just to reappear on his tail near his spaded tip, his head once sported the never-changing smile Bendy had, but Joey twisted his lips, forming a more cynical smirk with closed lips, every so often showing Henry his dagger fangs, he could easily kill Henry with a single bite, not to mention his claws, Henry had felt them so many times before tearing his skin open so easily, he knew Joey could run his fingers across his skin like if he was handling water on the tip of his digits.

" now sweetie, this has gone on for long enough" Henry felt a grip around his neck, suffocating him, Joey pressed his thumb against Henry's throat, purring at the feeling of his desperate gags, "you'll pay what you own me, Stein, soon you will be just like me" he sang his last words. Henry mustered all his strength into a powerful kick on the ink demon's chest, but nothing, he was unmoving. Henry had to think of something else, his vision was getting blurry and dark, his senses giving up, he needed to breathe, he couldn't lose now, not now.

The last thing Henry saw was Joey's smile widening before everything went dark.

When he finally woke up, Henry felt someone hugging him, he heard sobs, and he heard a voice, "I'm sorry", it repeated over and over again, he was not in pain, but Henry felt different, his eyes finally adjusted to the dim light of the room, he saw whoever had a hold of him, it was Bond. " kid, what are you doing here? How did you get in here? Get out before he-" Bond cut Henry off with a tighter hug, the man lifted his hand just enough to place it on his head, and that's when he saw it, his hand only had four fingers, he broke the embrace and quickly went over himself, looking down at his body as panic rose from deep inside his body, Henry was freaking out.

His skin was now replaced with soft dark fur, his clothes changed to overalls, his boots now resembled simple shoes, his hands sported light cream gloves. He touched his face, hoping it was just a nightmare, he felt a long snout, a big nose, his hands quickly moved up his head, big ears. Oh no, Henry rushed to a puddle of ink on the ground, there he saw his reflection, he was nothing but a simple and replaceable Boris clone. Hot tears formed on the corner of his eyes, rolling gently down his cheek, his fur soaked in any tears he shed for a while before it became soaking wet.

Bond rested his hand on Henry's back, they stayed quiet, not daring to speak a single word, all the sounds echoing in the room were from Henry, his sobs and sniffs loud and clear like daylight. Henry hugged the hound, a tight and warm embrace, Bond hugged him back, not wanting to overwhelm the poor man even more, but from deep within his chest a vibration rose, a deep growl Henry had never heard leaving the small hound echoed louder than his sobs, Henry lifted his head to look at Bond's face, but from the corner of his eye, he saw Joey, standing in the dark with his unchanging smile back on its place, Bond got up and stood in front of the demon, his back turned to Henry, who sat on the floor, his legs were too weak to stand for very long.

"Move aside, I need a word with my little wo-" Joey couldn't finish his sentence, he couldn't even walk up to Henry, Bond snarled out loud, like an out of control beast ready to taste the copper taste of blood, Joey twisted his lips again, this time his face changed into an unamused expression, even though Henry couldn't see his face, he knew Joey was lifting his eyebrow in confusion.

Bond nothing said, he kept growling at the demon, "behave before I force you through the machine again, you know what I can do" Joey threatened and walked towards them, this time he got something, a hard slap to the face, he wasn't even close to Henry yet, but Bond already hit him, "I'm not working for you anymore" he said, looking at the shocked demon. Henry watched as the demon slowly showed his teeth, his growl...God Henry would never forget it, it sounded like death itself, as if the sound could pierce through his soul and destroy it. His face turned to face the hound, he had gotten into a fighting position, ready for any blow the demon was willing to make. "Ah, you little!" Joey's hand sliced through his face, Henry's eyes widened as he saw red liquid dripping from the hound. 

He wasn't down, Bond faked more pain than he actually felt, letting Joey walk past him. Before the demon could grab Henry, however, Joey felt a sudden jolt of pain and heard a familiar sound of bones being shattered and flesh being torn away, he looked down, Bond had bitten him, not with his fangs, but with his back teeth instead, deep down Joey regretted teaching the hound how to fight. His claws dove down to attack Bond once more, but he dogged, letting the demon claw at the floor, his jaw never left his leg, always tightening the grip even more as Joey moved.

Henry took a deep breath and pulled on Joey's tail as hard as he could, which mixed with his broken leg made Joey lose balance and fall on the floor. Bond finally loosed his bite, running fast towards Henry, Bond started to push him against the wall, he frantically ran his hand on the wall until a small ink portal opened and he shoved the man inside, Henry fell atop of Bendy plushies, the last thing he saw was Joey mid-transformation lunging for the hound.

Hours later, Henry felt better, he could stand up and walk, his legs still felt wobbly if he stood for too long, he tried to distract himself from the pool of possibilities, what did Joey do to Bond? Was he ok? Where could he be? All thoughts swirled around his head giving him a painful headache. He roamed around the small room he was tossed in, Bendy dolls littered the floor, old posters ripped from the walls, broken cutouts, and a few cans of bacon soup, he grabbed one and slowly gulped down the contents, it tasted different now, somewhat better than before. Henry made a makeshift bed with the Bendy dolls and rested for a while, he kept thinking, he thought way back to that tragic day.

Linda was driving back home after a visit to her mother, his daughter Amelia was in the back seat, Henry smiled at the thought of them, he thought about earlier that same day, how he picked his little bundle of joy up and twirled around with her only to be kissed by Linda a moment after, they smiled at each other, life was perfect. The darker thoughts came to him, the phone call was fresh on his memory to this day.

"Mister Stein" a voice he never heard before called his surname, Henry scrambled around, he was busy making dinner, "yes, mister Stein speaking" he answered while mixing some vegetables in a bowl, "your wife and daughter suffered an accident, we found your number on a card, they sadly passed away sir." Henry's world froze, he dropped the phone and bowl, shattering them on the ground. 

He shook his head, trying to forget that night, he couldn't forgive himself for letting them go alone if only he could protect them, if only. His mind drifted back to the early years of the cycle when he found Bond trying to grab the Bendy plushie from the pedestal, he got scared of Bond, but in all honestly, he looked familiar, the hound had rushed to behind the further pedestal, Henry, who had only jumped back a little, watched the shaking pup trying to hide himself as best as he could. He stepped closer and kneed down, "hey little one, it's ok, I'm not going to hurt you", his voice was soft and gentle, he saw the small hound peeking from behind the pedestal, his pie cut eyes had a certain apprehension. Henry looked over to the Bendy plushie, surely he just finished his little 'ritual', it was done, so he grabbed it and went back to Bond, "here, look, it's Bendy the dancing demon, the happiest little guy you will ever meet". 

Bond slowly stepped out of his hiding place, walking closer to Henry, " it's ok, you can have him" he gently smiled as the hound grabbed the plushie, Henry watched as a big smile formed on his tiny face. Giggles filled the room along with a loud squeak, Henry looked around, his memory was foggy but he knew there was no way out, somehow he just knew, "listen little one, I need help, do you think you can help me?" Bond looked away for a second before nodding, Henry held his hand and they both walked towards the machine.

Henry smiled, Bond reminded him of his daughter, she loved Bendy and always carried his plushie with her, that was all he had left of his daughter, a squeaking plushie, now, he was surrounded by them. He wanted to cry, but he couldn't, he cried for so long before he had nothing left on him, no more tears to be shed. 

The sound of dripping started slowly in the room, Henry ignored it, it was common, but the dripping got faster, fast enough to form a flow, only to have the sound of something wet and heavy falling on the floor, he quickly got up and was met with a bubbling puddle of ink he got scared and hid behind one of the bigger plushies, could it be a searcher? Piper? Fisher? Striker? Even the demon himself.

A soft hand landed on Henry's shoulder, he quickly turned around, it was Bond, he processed the situation rapidly and pulled the hound into a tight hug, he found his tears as for they fell from eyes and onto Bond's fur. He pulled back smiling but dropped it as he saw the wounds, they were grey slashes on his face, several of them, the biggest one ran across his right eye, the tip of his right ear was missing and his left had three stripes running across the side. His arm and chest had grey circles and stripes, Henry wondered how much damage Joey had caused.

"H-how...I..." Bond smiled and placed his hands on Henry's shoulders, "it's ok, I will explain later."

Henry pulled him into another hug, his hand dug into his fur, "I was so worried about you, I thought I had lost you there, I'm sorry." Bond rubbed Henry's back and with a heavy sigh he muttered: "it's fine Henry, I won't let him hurt you, only above my dead body". Henry held Bond and pulled away, his expression was serious and worried, " you are the son I never had and I will not let you die for me."

His words echoed the room, Bond was shocked for a while before softly laughing, Henry followed suit, they hugged once more, gently laughing as small tears ran down their faces.


End file.
